Jolly Journeys
by Yume Arashii
Summary: Tea wins a lottery prize, a journey to Taiwan, for one person! But she'll miss the Christmas ball... and on top of it all, she has argued with Yami... reviews, please! First fanfic ever TeaxYami, YugixRebecca, TristanxSerenity, JoeyxMai, etc...
1. Prologue

Just so you know, I use English names, but flashbacks of the show will come from the Japanese version… because it's a bit more TeaxYami there than it's in the English show. Hope you enjoy my fic! Please submit reviews; I'm still new at this and I'm a bit confused about editing chapters and everything, but I'd be glad to have some reviews, no matter how bad they might sound. And yes, I know my chapters are a bit too short, but that's because they were too long to read when I wrote them... I hope they're OK anyway! Thank you!

* * *

**Prologue  
**_"But, Atem… what do you want to do, really?"_

Ocean-blue eyes met violet ones. Behind a puzzled surface, anxiety was bubbling inside Tea's mind. The brunette then looked away. The look was so intensive; she had to turn away before she blushed. Atem's eyes still looked at her, with some sadness hidden in them, before he turned towards the window, too. He stroked his borrowed fingers on the smooth window surface. It was shining in the bright sunlight; it had been newly washed and cleaned, and it was a sunny and nice day. The tri-color-haired teenager looked through the window. The streets of Tokyo were always so busy. It was very interesting to watch the people who went by. Each person's personality and history was different from the other. Some mothers dragged their crying babies, while other people slowly dragged their feet melancholy, while yet again others marched briskly by. Everybody walked differently, and everybody did things differently, as the music in the radio started to play for the thousandth time the same day. 

**_Oceans apart, day after day… _**

_"… I… I don't know, actually", Atem replied for the fifth time that hour_. _Tea ran her fingers through her short hair, staring melancholy at the people outside the café. She hadn't even drunk a mouthful of her big mug of lemon-flavored tea. It had already turned cold, or almost; in this warm weather, nobody, or nothing, could turn completely cold. But it was no longer so hot that there was smoke in the air coming from it. She tried to press the tears back, fiercely demanding them not to come out. If Atem left them… no, it was too horrible to even think of. She sighed, and tried to hold the mug properly to drink some of the cold tea. But her fingers were trembling, and they were too weak. Even her lower lip trembled not to let the tears come out. Thankfully, Atem was looking out of the window, staring hopelessly at the feet that walked by._

_**But it doesn't stop the pain…  
**  
Crash! _

_Tea didn't even scream. The coffee splashed onto her brand-new top, and the yellow text turned brown, leaving a big spot on her clothes._

_"Tea! Are you OK?" Atem burst out, looking at Tea. Tea could hardly answer.  
Her entire body, even her soul, was shaking so she would not burst into tears. She felt like a little child whom had lost her dearest treasure. The pastel-green coffee mug was lying split into several small and big pieces on the floor, and everybody stared at her. As a woman, wearing a waitress' uniform (a black vest over a white t-shirt, a red apron, and black pants with shiny black shoes with a white hat on her curly, light-brown hair, which was nicely made into a horsetail) marched past the astonished crowd, pulling on a pair of brand-new, white gloves, they slowly went back to their mumbling conversations._

_**Wherever you go… whatever you do… **_

_"Dear, dear", she said, shaking her head at the scene before her. "I think you must pay for that, dear. Can you pay it along with the bill? Thank you."__Without waiting for a reply, she left a nicely pulled off paper from a notebook on the black table, and taking all the pieces elegantly and putting them on a black plate, she marched back to the kitchen._

_"Tea…?" Atem asked doubtfully, eyeing her hesitantly. Tea's ocean-blue eyes were filled with tears, and her sight was blurry. She clenched her fists to press back the tears, and then smiled weakly:_

_"I'm OK."_

_She tried to look up in Atem's worried, puzzled eyes, but quickly stared at the floor again. His eyes bored into hers and was about to reveal her feelings. It felt like he pierced into her soul to open her heart's chamber… and that was forbidden. Atem looked the more puzzled, and blinked at her in astonishment, before sighing._

_"Tea, I…"_

_"I don't want you to leave", she interrupted him, to his biggest surprise. He looked up, seeing how a few tears trickled down her cheeks, and wet her already coffee-splashed, black skirt. She was still clenching her fists hard, and even her voice was filled with tears. "I… I want you to stay. Stay with us, forever!" She looked up at him, her eyes the more blurred by tears, which rolled down her smooth cheeks, onto her clothes. "Why can't you stay? Y-you're still our friend! I-I mean… n-no ma-matter wh-whether you're a Ph-Pharaoh or n-not, y-you said yourself th-that it didn't… it didn't matter!"  
_**  
_… I will be right here, waiting for you…  
_**  
_Her voice turned slightly shriller as she spoke. She then burst into tears, and hid her face with her hands, shaking. Atem could only look at her, filled with hopelessness. He wanted to tell her that he didn't want to leave… but yet, he couldn't. His destiny was to leave. That was what Ishizu had said. But Ishizu had said that… that destinies could be changed, too… _

_He put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up in surprise. His face was close to hers, which just made her cheeks turn bright pink, and make her stop sobbing for a moment or two._

_"I… I won't leave, I'm sure, Tea", he said, smiling at her. "I won't leave you, or the others. I want to stay too…"_

_"… Atem…", she whispered, and then hugged him. "Thanks…"_

_Atem could only blink in pure astonishment, before she released him, and the moment was over. She was back to normal again._

_"So… do you want to go and play some games again?" she smiled her normal smile, all her tears gone. "… Come on! Try to defeat me in something!"_

_"O… OK", Atem said, blinking in mere surprise._

**_Wherever you go… whatever you do…__

* * *

_**

Tea fingered her new, pastel-yellow top, and smiled at the flashback in her mind. The wind howled to catch her attention, and she turned towards the shiny glass window of her room. Outside, the wind was howling to express its unhappiness, while the snow whirled and twirled in beautiful ballets. The ice made cracking sounds as small children stepped onto it, smiling and laughing with their small, shrill voices out of glee as they heard it. Thankfully, it was just a small pool, barely a centimeter deep, so even if it cracked, it wouldn't happen anything. The snow covered the rest of the grass and the sand path, and it was more than five centimeters thick. Tea looked at the beautiful scene with a sigh. Sometimes, she wished she was an artist instead of a dancer, because then she could draw those scenes. So beautiful, so innocent… 

She shook her head. No, that wasn't what she was supposed to think of. It was late November, and the guys were all gathered to plan the Christmas celebrations. She thought of how Atem had prayed to the old gods of Egypt to let him stay, and by offering all the Millenium items, he had got his own body. So that normal people who didn't know about him being an ancient Pharaoh soul, they named him Yami Mutou, Yugi's unknown twin brother, to Yugi's mother's biggest shock.

"Tea? What're you doing in here?"

Yami peeked in, looking at Tea, as Tea twirled around in astonishment.

"Oh, Yu – I mean, Yami! I… am just looking… at the scene outside the window."

"The scene?" Yami looked confused, as he walked forward towards the window.  
Tea moved a few centimeters away to let him look. Yami looked at the dancing snowflakes, and the playing children.

"That's what I mean", Tea smiled. Yami looked at her, his violet orbs boring thoughtfully into hers. Tea's cheeks turned bright pink as always, and turned her eyes away. She did not want him to look him in the eye, because it felt like he opened her heart's most secret chamber, and that was forbidden. At least, for now, it was.

"Yami? Tea? What're you two doing in here?" Yugi peeked in, smiling. To a complete stranger, Yugi and Yami didn't look very different from each other. The only difference was that Yami had a few more blonde streaks which spread itself over the spiky, black hair with violet edges like a fan, and that Yami was half a head higher, had smaller eyes, a more serious face expression and a deeper voice, but there was so much more to tell about the two of them. Yugi looked weak, and he was more kind-hearted and shy. In fact, Yugi wasn't weak at all, but he looked so. Yami looked tough and strong. He wasn't more outgoing, but he wasn't very shy, just short-worded.

"Oh, I was just looking at the playing children", Tea explained, a bit surprised at Yugi's sudden interruption.

"And I was trying to drag Tea back to our discussion", Yami smiled, "Because she had come to see this… whatever it is."

Yugi laughed at the thought, and Tea and Yami joined in, but Yugi's mind twitched a bit suspiciously. He smiled secretly in his mind, and Yami, whom was still somewhat mentally connected to Yugi, used telepathy:  
_  
"What're you doing?"_ He asked suspiciously, giving him another of his piercing glances. Yugi didn't back, but he winked at his past self, both of them still in their minds.

_"Nothing. I haven't said anything; how so?" _

_"… You don't look innocent…",_ Yami told him in a warning and still suspicious tone. Yugi winked once more in their minds, and then broke the connection. Tea watched the two of them, puzzled. Yugi and Yami were silent and looking at each other, as though they were mentally speaking, and she was sure they did. She had seen them done so for practically half a year, but she always wanted to find out what they spoke about.

"Well, anyway…", she coughed, "Are we going back or not?"


	2. Destruction of Dorks!

**Chapter 1: Destruction of Dorks!  
**  
"Teaaaaaa! Teaaaa!"

The voice of Mrs. Gardner echoed loudly in the house. She scratched her neck, sighing.

"Why does she never listen?" she muttered to herself, as she eyed herself in the mirror. She brushed her hair gently with a red brush, and then took all the hair and made it into a nice-looking bun with an emerald-green, shiny clip. She eyed the mahogany wardrobe, which looked as though a meteorite had struck it, and bit her lip. Now she had to find a couple of nice outfits; she only had five minutes to get herself done, and she wanted to be nice-looking. After all, she was a perfectionist nobody could stand, according to Tea's father, whom had now divorced with Mrs. Gardner, and Mrs. Gardner was very delighted to admit it.

"… Tea Gardner! Come here at once!" she bellowed in the house, fingering the rough surface of her pastel-pink morning-gown.

"I'm coming!" Tea's voice yelled loudly back. "Wait a minute or two! Get yourself done first!"

"She's right, actually", Mrs. Gardner sighed for herself. "But…" She eyed the explosive wardrobe, and sighed once more. "I really do need to hire a personal servant…"

* * *

"Oh my freaking god, can somebody help me?" 

Tea threw clothes all around her. Her neatly made bed was covered in several different colors and clothes, and the whole room looked as though a meteorite – no, an entire planet – had exploded there. Dusty shoes on the computer, dirty socks among her homework papers, an evening gown thrown in her old kindergarten backpack, her Harry Potter books drowning in an ocean of different gloves… well, I could go on and on and on forever… but you get my point.

"Where's that freakin' shoe! Where is it! Where? Where?"

A pastel-pink towel was wrapped around her newly washed hair, and it was wagging uncomfortably on her head. She was wearing the school uniform for girls; a pink jacket over a white blouse with a blue bowtie and a short, blue, skirt.

"… Tea…!" she heard her mother's voice shout warningly. She bit her lip. She could look for her shoe later, but then her mother would force her go to school.

"OK, I think I'll just take a pair of shoes, and try to make them look casual", she mumbled for herself, and grabbed a pair of shoes and practically flew down the staircase.

"OK, mum, what IS it?" she hissed, as she glared at her mother right in the eye, still holding her shoes, looking rather dangerous.

"… There you are, Tea", her mother said with ease, as though her earlier bellows were already forgotten. "Somebody's left an envelope for you, and I can see it's important."

"An envelope…?" Tea repeated in disbelief.

An envelope! It could be anything. It could be a love letter, it could be a letter  
about a job, it could be…

"… winning a lottery prize?" Tea said, breathlessly.

"That's great, honey!" her mother burst out, hugging her daughter close. "What did you win? A cruiser? A million dollars? A… a… a villa!"

"… NO! I won a journey for one person to Taiwan!" Tea gasped.

"Why, that's… that's average", her mother said disappointedly. "Congrats, hun. I'm busy, I've gotta find my shoes…"

Tea rolled her eyes, and stuffed the envelope into her pocket, and pulled on the shoes. Thankfully, it was a pair of blue tennis sneakers…

* * *

"I – AM – FREEZING - TO - DEATH!" Tea bellowed, but her bellow was almost drenched in the wind's non-stopping howls. The snow blew into her mouth, making her choke, as she rubbed her two hands, dressed in a pair of snug, wine-red winter gloves against one another. 

"… I am, too", Joey complained, as he rubbed his two hands on his arms, making grimaces. "Can't they give us a bit better uniforms?"

Yami laughed merrily with the gang at Joey's comment, and then thought about how strange it felt to be THERE with Yugi together with the gang. Besides, he had never been present in school, so it was quite strange for him to come here for once.

"... I don't still get it", Yami said, a bit thoughtfully. "Why do you need uniforms, why can't you be dressed as you like?"

"Because the teachers are barking mad", Joey muttered, but Tea ignored him and smiled:

"Well, that's because they try to avoid having teased people. Not that it works, though", she added, as she saw the others raising their eyebrows, "But, if you for example dress strangely, people would laugh at you, right? So they try to avoid having people being teased in school for being dressed strangely. Or, uniquely, if you want to be exact."

"Amen", Joey added, dead-serious, making a bow, making the others shriek of laughter and then make choking sounds because of the snow that came into their throats when Tea strangled them.

* * *

"Okay, be honest. What made you so late?" 

Tea, Yugi, Joey and Tristan grinned nervously at each other, exchanging glances to say 'What're we going to do now?' before Yami interrupted their thoughts with astonishment, saying:

"We were in the cafeteria getting some breakfast. Tristan –" He made a quick nod with his head in Tristan's direction, " – didn't get any breakfast."  
_  
Wow, he's good at quick lies_, Tea thought for herself, barely being able to blink in the surprise that had struck her. _I didn't know that. I wonder if the Pharaohs had to lie sometimes so they'd set a good example for the people?  
_  
"Hmm…" The teacher threw another suspicious look at the five of them, before turning to Ryou, the boy with the chocolate-brown eyes and the long, silvery hair, which he knew often hung around them. He knew that they'd tell him about what had happened, even if he wasn't late, so he turned toRyou and said:

"I saw you in the schoolyard with them, before you departed. Did they tell you they were going to the cafeteria, Mr. Bakura?"

"You mean me, Mr. Oroka?"Ryousaid, blinking in surprise.

"Yes, how many Mr. Bakuras are here?" Mr. Oroka said with sarcasm, folding his arms and glaring at Ryou.Ryou turned bright red, while a few muffled giggles were to be heard. "Well?"

"Yes, they did",Ryou mumbled, still quite embarrassed.

"Hmm. I'll have to believe you this time, then", Mr. Oroka said, pointing at them with his index finger warningly, "But you'll get detention for being late. No break for you today, misters and miss; you'll have to clean the cafeteria."

Joey and Tristan gaped at him, dumbfounded; the cafeteria was gigantic. Yami, however, blinked blankly; he hardly ever dined in the cafeteria during lunch. Since students were able to move around, choosing where they could eat, themselves, he mostly chose to eat in the classroom, the corridors, or in the schoolyard. The cafeteria was noisy and filled with girls who would giggle and beam at the sight of him, making him feel uncomfortable – and of some odd reason, Tea always got mad at them, and sometimes she'd mutter about them all day, or she'd be sulky and not speak to the gang for a whole day. Therefore, Yami preferred not to be around in the cafeteria, seeing how the girls always chased him during break anyway, and that was annoying enough, seeing how Tea often got so mad at them that she'd start to argue with them.

"Hi, Yami. I can help you do the cleaning", a voice whispered in his ear, and a silent giggle followed. The voice was too familiar, and made him stiff. Not her again…

Tea glared at the girl behind him sourly. Why was she so stupid? She always behaved like that during the lessons. And the teachers never punished her, because she was the principal's beloved little daughter, whom unfortunately, admired Yami so much that she always followed him around. What annoyed Tea the most was that Yami never turned her down. She always flirted with him, and he always replied stiff answers. And she always made the teachers give up their punishment about Yami, because otherwise, she'd yell at them and tell her father to fire them. And everyone did her bidding, and the girls in school followed her around to giggle. Every single guy, or almost, loved her like the darkness loves light, and every girl hated her like light loathes darkness.

"Want to go to the Christmas ball with me?" Belinda chirped in Yami's ear, and Yami could only blink. Belinda withdrew, beaming with delight, into her chair, taking that as a yes. Hearing what Belinda said, Tea stared intensively at her test, trying to force back the fiery tears that filled her eyes.

* * *

"Yami, if you like Belinda so much, why don't you tell her it?" Tea suddenly asked Yami abruptly during lunch, not even caring to look at him. Her fork missed the beef for the second time the same minute, making her the more annoyed. The screeching sound that followed when the fork instead met the plate made the other boys around the table stare at her. 

"Hey, Tea, what's up with ya today?" Joey asked, "You haven't been _normal _since we left maths… and you weren't even normal then. You went to the toilet at least five times, and you said your eyes hurt and you had to go to the school nurse…"

Unfortunately for Joey, and for the others, neither of them knew that Tea had seen Belinda offer Yami to help him clean. What Belinda had really meant was that she'd threaten to fire the mathematics teacher if he didn't withdraw the punishment personally for Yami, and so he had done. Yami himself didn't know. Only Yugi did; he disliked Belinda too, because she'd always specially ignore Yugi or occupy Yami so he ignored Yugi whenever the two of them were around. Since Yami was practically Yugi's twin brother, Yugi was very concerned about that.

"Something wrong, Tea?"Ryou asked, after exchanging looks with the boys as the screeching sound reached their ears as answer on Joey's question.

"Nothing", Tea mumbled, and practically attacked her mouth with the fork, a pea successfully sitting on it. Yami blinked at her in mere astonishment, staring at her because of the question.

"What do you mean with that?" he managed to ask at last after the intensive tension, when Ryou, Joey, Tristan and Yugi looked from Yami to Tea and then back again.

"I mean", Tea pressed on, "That you two are always flirting, right? So isn't it quite obvious that she likes you, and you like her? Then you should really be boyfriend and girlfriend, and the only requirement to do that, is to tell her that you like her, and she'll be so excited that she'll jump in the air and tell everybody and then you can go around not only flirting but kissing and hugging and everything, right, so isn't that a lot funnier, because then her admirers can't say a thing about it, because then you're together, so…"

Tea's voice was unsteady, or almost blank, and it became louder and louder for every word. It didn't show the slightest fury, and she had her face strictly turned to her white plate. She rarely ever talked about such senseless things, and she never blabbered on that fast and that much, but she was so filled with anger that she couldn't stop. When she at last took a deep gulp of air to finish, the chilly air made her throat burn and want to cry.

"I'm not hungry", she added at last, and arose from the chair, rushing out of the classroom. Before she left, a tear trickled down her right cheek fast, wetting her burning throat from the outside, leaving the boys dumbfounded with her speech, and Belinda triumphantly smiling in the other end of the classroom, with her gang of girls.

_

* * *

Yami must think I'm stupid. Maybe I should go back and apologize? she thought for herself, as she sat under a big oak tree in the other end of the schoolyard, hiding in the shadows. It was peaceful here, because nobody ever went here. The schoolyard was big, and very few preferred to be here, except for nerds who liked to study and do their homework in peace. She pressed her back to the tree, her red eyes filled with tears that trickled down her cheeks. She was unable to stop them; her store with napkins had run out, and her handkerchief was too wet to even dry her nose.  
__  
No, you can't_, another voice said in her mind. _He must think that you're stupider, then. I don't think he even gets why you got angry - _

Of course he does! Yami isn't stupid… he must know that is because I think he  
doesn't suit the girl -

Oh, no, he doesn't, didn't you see his dumbfounded expression?

But -

No 'buts', he has no idea you're in love with him.

I'm – WHAT!

Well, that's obvious, right? Even Yugi knows.

No, he doesn't.

Yes, he does.

Oh, stop that! He doesn't know.

Oh, right, he doesn't know; but Rebecca knows. Remember during the time of our Orichalcos adventures? Well, she told you that she liked, and she still likes, Yugi, and she said that it was good that you liked Yami.

She only guessed –

Yami must think I'm stupid. Maybe I should go back and apologize? she thought for herself, as she sat under a big oak tree in the other end of the schoolyard, hiding in the shadows. It was peaceful here, because nobody ever went here. The schoolyard was big, and very few preferred to be here, except for nerds who liked to study and do their homework in peace. She pressed her back to the tree, her red eyes filled with tears that trickled down her cheeks. She was unable to stop them; her store with napkins had run out, and her handkerchief was too wet to even dry her nose., another voice said in her mind. 

_That's because it's obvious. You hardly need to guess. Why otherwise do you blush when he bores his eyes into yours? And that funny expression you always wear when Belinda flirts with him? _

I don't love him.

You do.

I don't.

You do!

I DON'T!

OK, fine. Do whatever you like, it won't matter to me.

Relieved to finish her brain argument, Tea dried her tears with her hands, which had clutched the grass. She felt like a little girl whom had lost her doll… her precious treasure…

One of her best friends. One of her very best friends…

"Mai", she whispered for herself, and pulled out a pink mobile phone. On the back of it was a small photo-sticker with them on; Yami, Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Bakura and Mai, all trying to join the picture by pressing together in the very small photo room. Rebecca had been very sulky to see that she wasn't on it, though she was in Australia by the time they took the picture.

She quickly browsed the mobile phone's menu, choosing the 'Phone Number List', she saw Mai's number in the list and clicked once more, allowing her to phone Mai.

* * *

"Miss Valentine, may I ask what this is?" the boss barked, as he eyed suspiciously Mai's work. A bunch of papers neatly piled on Mai's desk was the object he was inspecting, and Mai turned just as nervous as usual. 

"That's… my work, sir", she said, weakly.

The bald, tall, muscular man, wearing a brown suit, bent down and took a paper, and then eyed it.

"What is this space, Miss Valentine?" he asked after a moment's tense silence. The other colleagues eyed Mai, grinning evilly.  
_  
Curse them_, Mai thought for herself, as she stared blankly at her pen, which still rested in her right hand.

"Err… that's where you're supposed to sign the paper, sir", she managed to say.

She knew that this paper was delayed, but it was all her own idiotic mind's fault… NEVER try to help dorks.

"And, tell me WHY was this paper supposed to be signed 23rd May?" he asked in the same cold voice. Mai's cheeks turned bright pink. It hadn't been her fault. Or, well, it had. Back then, Joanne had found a paper stuck in a paper pile on her desk, which had fallen down, and she had looked in such a badly state afterwards, that Mai had thought she'd be kind to her colleagues once – that might make them treat her better – and offered her help. Then Joanne had handed her the paper, and Mai had just been trying to concentrate on doing her job (which was to sort papers) AND get an idea how to hide that paper without failure.

"I… err… I…", was all Mai could manage to stammer.

A high-pitched giggle was to be heard from the other end of the room. As the boss slowly turned his head and glared at Joanne, whom, too, turned bright pink and went back to her work, Mai clutched her pen with her sweaty fingers, which were shaking. She just couldn't lose this job, she just couldn't lose this job…

The slow melody of Für Elise reached their ears, as Mai's face turned from bright pink to tomato red. She shouldn't have left the mobile phone on… oh, she was so stupid, why had she been hoping that Joey would've phoned after work…?  
_  
Oh, Joey! _she thought for herself bitterly. She hadn't seen him since she had been released from Orichalcos... only once, when they took that group photo sticker on the back of her mobile phone, and they had been so awkward then…

He would've protected her now, in front of the boss, shooting him rude comments for offending her. This warmed her heart and gave her some more courage. He had phoned her the day before, telling her of the Christmas ball. She hadn't exactly got the point why he had told her of it before he burst into an angry cry, telling her about Serenity's newly gained admirer, Franco, whom was known to be a boy a girl couldn't trust. He was handsome, and charming, but he always got a new girlfriend before the end of the month. Serenity had been quite thrilled by his beauty, but she was yet unsure to get a relationship with him. Mai only chuckled and told him to trust her, because she, Mai Valentine, would make sure Serenity wouldn't hang around with such a guy as that, seeing how she was Mai's very good friend and almost her little sister herself.

And Joey had promised to phone the day after, and had asked for the time she stopped working, and Mai had been so… happy.

"I'm sorry", Mai said, grinned apologetically at the raged boss, and then went to the ladies' room, her purple mobile phone clutched tightly in her other hand. She didn't realize she had brought the black pen to the ladies' room before she replied.

"Hello…", a voice said thickly in the phone. Mai blinked at her reflection in the round mirror in astonishment.

"Tea? Why are you phoning me this early? Aren't you still in school?"

"Yeah, I am… it's break…"

"Wow, you sound enthusiastic about it", Mai said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry… well, it's just…" She heard a small gulp and sob in the other end of the receiver, and she finished:

"Yami?"

"Yeah. Kind of…"

"Kind of?"

"Well, yeah… it's another girl, too."

"WHAT! HE'S HANGING AROUND WITH ANOTHER GIRL!"

"Yeah… she asked him to the Christmas ball, and everybody knows that only… girlfriends and boyfriends go together to the Christmas ball…", she said with the thick voice in a tiny whisper. Mai had to press the phone to her ear to hear.

"Did he say yes, that… that bug!"

"Yeah…"

"OK, emergency meeting. I'm at job right now, OK, hun? Let's meet at Domino Coffee after I'm done working. I'm in a crisis anyway, my boss is already barking mad…"

Just then, she heard a familiar cough behind the door. She would've turned even redder, if it had been possible.

"Remind me of not speaking so loud again, OK?" she added in panic. "Err… well, wait for me there after school, OK? See ya then! Bye!"

She quickly stuffed the phone into her pocket, and then opened the door, where the boss was standing, glaring at her. She smiled stiffly.

"Err… I'm back again!"


	3. Eerie Emergency!

If you're wondering why I am submitting chapters so fast, it's because I wrote these chapters some time ago, and that's why I'm updating so quickly. But the following chapter is not done yet, it's only half-done, so it'll take a bit longer to submit them than half a day. :) Have fun reading!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Eerie Emergency! **

The rest of the day, Tea avoided the boys. Several times, Ryou, Joey, Tristan, Duke and Yugi did failed attempts to try and stop her and convince her to tell them of why she was avoiding them, but this just made her the more determined to stay away from them. Always managing to escape with a rough excuse, Tea stayed away from the boys as far as possible – and most of all, Yami, whom was now strictly followed by the delightful Belinda. She kept clutching his arm tightly, following him around everywhere, giggling, and flirting. Yami felt quite uncomfortable with this; but unable to follow the impossible Tea with a girl clutching his arm so hard he found it impossible to run without tripping over, he could only stay in the corridor and try to ignore Belinda.

When the school bell finally rang, Tea felt relieved. Before anyone could stop her, she had rushed out of the school and towards her bicycle, which she rode home. Since she had missed the school bus that day, she had used her bicycle instead to get to school, and she was quite glad that she had, because then she wouldn't have been able to escape from the boys she considered friends.

The cold wind whistled and wrapped itself around her legs uncomfortably as a scarf, making her shiver in the coldness, but she continued to ride her bicycle towards Domino Coffee. The rain splashed onto her clothes, making them glue themselves to her body, and her hair was wet and a mess; the rain mixed with her tears and felt salty in her mouth, and everything was just dim and blurry before she had reached the almost deserted café that normally was crowded with people – Domino Coffee.

* * *

Mai was staring blankly at the rain that fell, and the grey sky that towered above the once peaceful town, before Tea stepped in, wet from head to feet. The bell over the wooden door rang, and Tea smiled weakly as Mai gazed at her in surprise. 

"Tea! I didn't expect you so early… oh my gosh, are you wet! Come and sit down…" She gestured at the seat opposite to hers. It was a mahogany chair with a dark red seat, in the middle of the room. This way, the boys wouldn't spot them if they walked past.

"Hello, Mai", Tea greeted her, sitting carefully down. The water dripped onto the floor, and the waitress which cleaned the floor looked irritably at the pool that soon had formed itself under Tea's chair. Mai chuckled at the sour expression the waitress showed, before turned to Tea.

"So… what's up with this Yami dating another girl?"

"Okay, they're not exactly dating… but they're flirting…"

"Flirting? You don't tell me Yami goes around flirting with girls?" Mai raised an eyebrow.

"This doesn't sound like him, y'know. Aren't you sure that girl is flirting with him, and he doesn't just answer because he's just new at this?"

"Well, really, it _was _– but she asked him to the prom, and he said yes."

"He did?"

"Well, he didn't respond, so now they're going together. And they'll end up as girlfriend and boyfriend sooner or later – who hasn't, if they're attending a ball together? I mean, only girlfriends and boyfriends do, and Belinda has shown no sign that she wants to go there with him a _friend_."

"Er, are you sure Yami didn't… protest?"

"No, really, he didn't. He just sat there. And he hasn't said a thing to Belinda all day, and she has clutched his arm all day and flirted with him, and he hasn't said a word to her to stop. It looks like he's enjoying it."

"And… you're envious?"

Tea didn't respond at once. She paused to think; it wasn't exactly envy, was it? Her heart had immediately protested that it wasn't, but… to think of it, was it really so? Was it unforgivable envy that had filled her heart? She guessed… not.

"No, I don't think so. As a friend, I'm quite upset, because I know Belinda's a very idiotic girl, who's going to dump him sooner or later for a muscular… man, you know what I mean…"

"Hmm. So, she's that kind of a girl? No wonder you're upset – but why don't you just leave Yami to deal with it, Tea? I mean, I'm his friend, too –"

"But I can't!" Tea burst out, filled with fury; this surprised Mai so much she could only blink in reply. "She's an idiot, I can't just leave Yami heartbroken –"

"I know you care a lot about him, Tea… but, Yami isn't stupid –"

"Oh, yes, he is! He hasn't even realized who likes him and who doesn't!" she shrieked in  
impatience.

A tense silence followed, before Mai broke it with another raised eyebrow:

"So that's why you care…"

Tea's cheeks turned bright pink, and her mouth was closed, all the fury wiped away. Waves of embarrassment drenched her, and her heart pounded.

"No, I don't", she mumbled.

"Yes, you do", Mai teased her. "Oh, c'mon, Tea, just admit it. We're all girls – y'know, I've always thought you and Yami suited together."

"But even if I _had_ liked him, there's no chance", Tea said bitterly. "He's taken now, didn't I say it?"

"Didn't you say he didn't respond? If he doesn't respond any time soon, there's no hope for that relationship to succeed."

"I've said that it won't succeed from the start. He's going to be heartbroken, you know… Belinda will enchant him way too much."

"And what're you going to do about it? Realize it, Tea, you'll only have to watch. If you just get all upset, he's just going to be the more heartbroken, because he'll have no idea who he'll choose – a girl he has loved for eternities, or a girl whom he's together with now –"

"Stop that!" Tea said, blushing hotly. "He doesn't love me, c'mon, we're just friends –"

"Oh, really?" Mai chirped.

"How about you and Joey then? Should I say you love him and he loves you?" Tea protested.

Mai's cheeks turned red as well, and she stuttered:

"But – it isn't the same –"

"Oh, yes, it is", Tea teased on, finding the weak point, "You two are always so cute, aren't you – when you were possessed by Orichalcos and he rescued you –"

"Hey! What about that date of yours with Yami during Battle City Tournament?" Mai scowled.

"Oh, that was just a friendly date", Tea muttered, but it really hadn't been; Yugi had actually _tried _to make Yami more cheerful with a 'real' date with Tea.

"Oh, no, it wasn't", Mai chirped.

"Okay, how about Joey wanting to die together with you when Marik attacked you with The Winged Dragon of Ra?" Tea teased.

"Ah, stop it!"

And the two girls burst into laughter, and without realizing it, Tea had been much more cheerful than for a few minutes ago. Mai and Tea were the only girls in the gang except for Rebecca, and she really didn't count – she hadn't been there from the start. She was just a "side-friend", Tea always said.

"So… let's talk about Yami, now", Mai said after a deep breath. Her eyes looked seriously into Tea's. "Are you really sure you don't… _like _him?" Putting a special 'weight' on the word 'like', she decided not to speak 'love' out aloud.

"Well, no", Tea said, looking startled to even think about it. "I surely like him as a _friend_, but I'm… sure that I'm not… _liking _him."

"If you're only sure, you can't say you don't like him", Mai said, a hopeful twinkle in her right eye. She had known since long that Tea had liked Yami – or, at least had a weak point about him. She was sure Tea didn't realize it herself, seeing how Tea always denied it – but it was quite obvious to everybody that she liked him, except for Yami himself, of course. She had always supported Tea's 'future' relationship with Yami, though Tea has always refused to agree with her.

"Oh, c'mon, Tea, don't be shy – tell me the truth, you like him, right? That's why you're so upset about this Belinda-thing. Realize it, it's reality, alright?"

"Mai… I… don't like him", Tea said hesitantly. "And anyway… it doesn't big matter now… we're just going to depart sooner or later, aren't we? I mean… I failed getting into the New York dance academy thing, but just because I'm staying in Tokyo doesn't mean that we'll still keep in touch."

"Tea!" Mai burst out, upset. "Do you mean _we_ are going to lose contact, too?"

"No, of course not!" Tea quickly replied, blinking in astonishment. "I mean… the boys. We're still of the same gender, aren't we? We'll have girls' meetings and such. Boys… boys are different. And they'll get girlfriends soon, the rest of them, too. You can just see Tristan's and Duke's faces when they see Serenity."

Mai's face turned a deep shade of tomato red as she thought of Joey with another girl. It felt like her nails grew longer, about the size of the Harpie Lady's claws, and she felt for sticking them in the girl's throat…

"Mai? Are you alright?" Tea asked worriedly, seeing Mai's sudden, fierce expression.

"What? Yeah", Mai replied, the reddened face paling a bit and the fire burning before her eyes disappearing. "I just… never mind. Who's Joey going to go with to the Christmas ball, anyway?"

"What?" Tea raised an eyebrow. "Why do you wonder?"

"Oh… nothing, I just wondered… I mean, he's like my little brother, isn't he…", Mai lied, grinning sheepishly.

"Don't lie to me", Tea said, amusedly. "You care. Well, anyway, nobody – who wants to go with that idiot?"

"Err… nobody, I s'pose. I just wondered…"

"Alright…", Tea said, but suspicion was playing amusedly in her voice. "Well, anyway, if he gets a date or not, that won't bother me – I won't be around for Christmas anyway."

"What!" Mai stared at her in disbelief. "But you said –"

"Yeah, but I got a letter from a lottery today. I totally forgot", Tea said, and pulled out a white-yellowish envelope from her pocket. "Can't even remember it, but they said that I've won a free vacation to Taiwan for a month. Isn't that great? I can slip away and don't meet the lovebirds -" (With this, she meant Yami, and she looked bitterly sarcastic) "- and just relax and have fun in Taiwan. In Ken Ding, to be exact – it's wonderful there, I'm going to live in a beach hotel, you know – everything's free, the lottery pays it all, everything from toothpaste to every single pencil I buy there." Her eyes shone in excitement. "And the hotel is just luxurious – ultimately neat – it's called Caesar Park, I think I've never heard of a better hotel in my entire life."

Mai listened to her story, her eyes looking at Tea, still in disbelief.

"But, Tea... what about Belinda and Yami?"

"Isn't that great, then? I can slip away and don't meet them, just as I said – the lovebirds, y'know. I can have lots of fun on my own – who knows, I can even meet a decent boyfriend there…"

"… Tea! Are you insane? You like Yami!" Mai blurted out, staring at her.

"… and then I buy lots of pretty clothes… hey, do you want something from Taiwan, Mai? I can get it from you there, nothing will cost too much, as long as it's under 10,000 yen, right? And…"

"TEA!"

"… and I can buy a pair of dance clothes, and… yeah, Mai?" Mai looked desperately at Tea, whom was looking casually at Mai. She had been ignoring her comments all the time, though her eyes were burning with tears.

_Oh my freaking god, how am I going to do this? My plan with fixing Yami and Tea together is going to fail…_, Mai thought desperately, biting her lip.

"Tea, I don't want anything, right? Just tell me you're kidding."

"What, I'm not! I'm really going to Taiwan."

"OK, who's going along with you? Yami?"

"No, of course not. I just said I wanted to avoid him. I'm going to go there myself."

"WHAT! What about our Christmas celebrations with the gang, then? What…?"

"Oh, they're going to be ruined anyway, seeing how Yami will bring Belinda there…"

"No, they'll not."

"Oh yes, they will. Anyway, you guys can get on by yourself. And… oh! It's five o'clock. I think I must get to my evening job… see ya around before I go, Mai. I'll go Friday the 13th December, at Tokyo International Airport, OK? See ya there. Bye!"

Tea rushed off, and before Mai could as much as say a word to stop her, she was out of the door, on her bicycle, and riding it furiously in the rain as far away from the café as possible. Mai watched her, helplessly, and heaving a deep sigh, she glared at the waitress and barked:  
"You, there! Where's my coffee?"

* * *

"Err… Joey? Joey? Are you alright today?" The girl tilted her head, stopping the broom she held in her right hand to look worriedly at the blonde boy. Joey yawned widely, and then looked at the girl. 

"No, I'm alright. Just a bit tired… my friends just argued today, y'see."

"Oh… OK. That's not good, what did they argue about?" she asked, hiding her curiosity by looking at the glass ceiling, fluffing up her long, golden curls. She was elegant, with no doubt, with eyes gleaming as emeralds, it was no wonder that a whole herd of boys were after her. But she had no interest in them at all – the only boy she really wanted was the one standing beside her now…

"Oh, nothing special. Hey, Casey, could you…"

Casey smiled brightly.

"… borrow me your mobile phone?"

Casey's smile faded, and she stared at him in astonishment.

"Yeah, sure", she said, handing him her pink mobile phone. "Who're you going to phone?"

"Mai", he grinned widely.

"Who's Mai?" she asked stiffly, and she immediately continued to wipe the dust off the floor  
with the old-fashioned broom.

"My very best friend… she's beautiful, intelligent, good at dueling –"

_Oh, shut up_, Casey thought angrily, as her cleaning sped up.

" – and absolutely the best person you could think of –"

"Joey", she said loudly, "Must you continue go on about your _girlfriend _or must I take back my phone?"

Joey blinked at her in surprise, as the tear-eyed Casey marched away to wipe away dust from another corner.

* * *

"… and then he said: 'Oh, c'mon, you can have this for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon – I mean, it's a God card –' and you guys knew what he showed me? Kuriboh!" Yugi burst into a hearty laughter as Grandpa told him the joke, while his parents merely smiled. Yami, however, did not reply at all. He stared blankly at the pork before him. 

"How is it with you today, Yu – er, I mean, Yami?" Grandpa said, looking anxiously at the non-moving, dead-serious and distracted 'twin brother' of Yugi. Yugi didn't eye him; he knew what had happened, and he hoped not to answer.

"What?" Yami said in surprise, looking up. "Oh… nothing, Grandpa, nothing at all. I'm just a bit tired, that's all…"

"Al… right…", Grandpa said disbelievingly and hesitantly, before he continued joking with Yugi. The two parents eyed each other, and then turned to Yami.

"Yami, you're alright, I hope? You're not sick, are you?" the violet-haired woman, whom was not at all related to Yami, really, asked.

"I'm not… mother", Yami smiled, straining himself. He could barely pronounce the word 'mother', seeing how he was not related to the violet-haired woman at all. In fact, he was just her son's past self, whose ancient soul had taken part of his body and then gotten his own body. But if he was not called Yugi's twin brother, they'd have no excuse for his existence. Yugi's mother looked puzzled back at him, because she was not used to be called 'mother', but she was referred to as 'mum'.

"Oh… right", she said, confusedly, before turning back to her own meal of pork. Yugi's father blinked at his 'so-called son' before also challenging his own, spicy pork as well. Yami, however, did not even touch the peas, but he merely sipped on his mouthful of icy lemon water, lost in his own thoughts. Yugi did not meet his eyes, and did not ask about his condition, he knew what was wrong, and he did not bother to use telepathy to even ask or try to explain about it all.

* * *

Nighttime. Tea wriggled in her bed like a restless worm, frowning irritably as she turned from side to side. Her pink blanket had already fallen to the floor in the tries to fall asleep, and the pale moonlight shone on her sweat-covered face. A soft night breeze ruffled the little hair that wasn't pressed towards the white pillow. It whispered in her ears softly, and the stars watched her anxiously. 

"Oh, my freakin' god, what does one require to have me sleep?" Tea burst out in anger, and jumped up. Her ocean-blue eyes were fiery with rage, and she was wearing a pink nightgown, shimmering as thin silk in the pale light that came from her open window.

"Really, it's a better idea to go and watch TV than just sit here", she muttered for herself, and began silently tiptoeing down the staircase, hoping that she'd not wake her mother up. She'd be dead if she did. Her mother would SO kill her. How normal was it that a normal girl student was up in the middle of the night, without sleeping?

* * *

"Hello, it's Mai?" Mai yawned in the receiver, as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand to stir herself awake before she fell asleep while speaking. She was wearing a white silk nightgown, sitting up in her bed. Her white blanket was almost thrown to the floor in the lazy attempt to sit up, and she leaned her blonde head towards the hard, chilly marble wall. She was immediately stirred awake as she heard the unforgettable voice that spoke next. 

"Hey, it's… Yami."

"Yami!" Mai burst out in mere surprise. "I… didn't expect you to be up so late, I'm all sleepy, y'know. What's so important?"

"Sorry", Yami apologized in the phone, though he didn't sound sorry at all. In fact, his voice was totally wiped blank. "I didn't mean to have you sit up listening anyway… sleep well –"

"Ah, never you mind, you've waken me up now", Mai interrupted briskly. "Tell me, what's wrong, Yami? C'mon, I'll never be able to fall asleep now anyway if you don't tell me."

A silence followed, and Mai could have sworn Yami looked amused in the other end of the telephone. Though the voice that he used next surprised her so much, she didn't know what to think.

"Y'know, Mai? Could you just be my translator for… _girl language_?"

"… Er, what?" Mai said, raising an eyebrow in confusion and amusement.

"Yeah. Girls' language, isn't it – you girls have a strange way to communicate with people to show your feelings, don't you?"

"OK, it's that Belinda business, right?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I know it all."

"You… know it?" Yami's voice said, slowly, as though he was testing to pronounce the words.

"Yes, I know", Mai said impatiently, curling a hair with her free hand. "Go on, what d'you want to know? How you can kiss Belinda without Tea getting all mad about it?"

"… What?"

"Yeah, you know, you're a dork, Yami. Don't you KNOW how Tea feels?"

"That's the exact reason why I phoned you. I've thought about it all day, and I can't –"

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now. Tea's going to Taiwan. For a month, you know – she's going to miss the Christmas ball and everything – I bet'cha she'd have stayed, but it's all because of _you_." Normally, Mai wouldn't have said such a thing to Yami, but she was quite annoyed by Tea's sudden leave for Christmas, seeing how Tea was one of her best friends as well – and she knew how hurt Tea was because of Yami's sudden relationship with Belinda. Her sarcasm showed it quite well.

An awkward silence followed, before Yami finally whispered:

"She's leaving…?"

"Yeah. She's not coming back even for Christmas, she's back for the term start, and she's going to miss the New Year celebrations and everything."

"… She's… going away?"

"Yeah, are you deaf or something?" Mai suddenly yelled in the phone. "Don't you get it? She's leaving, she's leaving, and it's all because of you, you non-feeling, unintelligent, stupid duelist! All our Christmas celebrations, New Year celebrations, everything, is going to be a disaster, thanks to you and that good-for-nothing Belinda, and oh, do tell her from me that she's such a big dork who thinks she can go out with anybody she likes without them caring – and I totally forgot you were a dork as well, so you won't care anyway!"

She slammed the receiver back to its place with such anger that the lamp was almost knocked to the floor as she switched off the light. Everything was a disaster now. The Christmas celebrations she had been looking forward to, the happy sight of all her friends, united to celebrate Christmas peacefully, even being able to catch Joey under the mistletoe (a dream she now, in her anger, did not deny she had dreamed) – everything was destructed now, by the person whom had actually gathered them together, because of his Millenium items and everything, Pegasus, and Duelist Kingdom, and everybody whom was after his Millenium Puzzle – he had actually started everything, but Mai did not care now – she was so angry she could've killed somebody for lesser.

* * *

**xxxShadow Angelxxx: **Thank you:D I'm glad that you like it. I hope you like my other chapters as well ;) 


	4. Flight of Delight

**Chapter 3: Flight of Delight!**  
"So, what's the plan?"

"What plan?"

Tristan rubbed his eyes sleepily as he dropped the blue phone receiver.

"Oops", he mumbled, as he picked it up again, as it dangled a few centimeters above the floor.

"… Mai told us everything about the disaster. What's the plan?" he heard Joey's annoyed voice say.

"Err… what plan? Sorry, Joey, I dropped the phone."

A long moan followed, before Joey continued:

"I said Mai told us everything about the disaster."

"What disaster?"

Another moan.

"Do you've to be such an idiot? And don't come and say 'what idiot?' because then I'll kill you."

"Alright, but what's going on? You phone me at five am and can't even tell me what's wrong – I'm going back to bed."

Tristan was halfway putting the phone back onto its former place, before Joey said hurriedly:

"Hey, wait! It's about Tea."

"Tea? And Yami?" Tristan blinked in astonishment as he lifted the receiver to his ear again.

"OK, what's up with them?"

"NOT THEM. It's Tea. She's going away for Christmas. She's going away… tomorrow."

"WHAT!"

"Yeah, I know. I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A DISASTER, IDIOT!"

"Whatever… how're we going to stop her? Take her ticket?"

"Are you stupid? Where and when?"

"At her home, of course."

"And how will we get there?"

"Take a bus, or –"

"No, I mean, how do we get in?"

"What get in? She lets us in, of course."

"Really, Tristan, are you stupider than I think you are? She won't let us in!"

"Why?"

"BECAUSE SHE'S ANGRY WITH US, STUPID!"

"Why?"

"'Cause… how should I know why? I'm not a girl!"

"Yeah, whatever.. how are we going to stop her?"

"That's why I'm phoning you!"

"… Great. Mai told you about it?"

"Yeah."

"Can't Mai just tell her not to go?"

"She has already, stupid. Or else I wouldn't have been phoning you now."

"Can't we just stop her at the airport? I bet'cha she's going to be so touched she's going to  
stay. We can convince her, y'know – we're her friends."

"_Brilliant_, Tristan!" Joey exclaimed with sarcasm. "I've thought of that already. I'm phoning you now because… ah! I just got a message from Mai on the mobile. She says we're leaving… now?"

* * *

"… Wonderful! I wonder where my fashion magazine is", Tea said sarcastically as she threw a hairbrush to the floor angrily.

"What's wrong with you, Tea? I thought you were happy to skip school?" her mother said, raising an eyebrow, before adding: "Oh, of course. Your friends! They'll meet you at the airport, won't they?"

"No, they won't", Tea said with an evil cheerfulness, "Because I've got no friends."

"What! Tea, you're feverish. Take some fever medicine with you to the airplane – here –  
" Her mother handed her a brownish bottle with a white liquid inside it, but Tea pushed it away.

"I'm not feverish, mum. I've just… given up. Given up on trying to help my friends. It's not worth the job, that's all."

"But… Tea… I thought they were your best friends? You've known Yugi since middle school, and the others… well.. you said you were going to the same college with them…"

"Who said I must? We were just saying we MIGHT. And there're more than just one college in the entire Japan."

She threw a book into her bag and slammed it closed.

"There we go. I'm done…" She sat down on the bed, and stared furiously at the white ceiling. To be honest, she didn't want to go. Loads of protests bubbled in her heart, but she pushed them away. She had to escape from the lovebirds. They were... DISGUSTING. Just that morning, Belinda had phoned her to inform her of how MUCH Yami loved her, because he had sent her a card which told her how much he didn't want her to go, and how sorry he was for everything.

"Not that I will go anywhere, but my sweet little idiot doesn't know that!" she had exclaimed with evil happiness, as Tea slammed the receiver back onto its former place, tears burning in her eyes.

* * *

It was disastrous.

"It's a disaster! I sent it to Belinda and now she's cuddling the more with me, like some kind of pig!" Yami groaned, as he threw a love letter which scented strongly of roses into a paper bin nearby.

"Oh, aren't you that?" Mai snapped. "You deserve it, dork."

She then turned away, glaring furiously at the road in front of them, which led to the bus station. Tristan and Joey eyed each other nervously, while Duke, Bakura and Yugi discussed how they were going to reveal to Tea that they were spying on her later.

"Mai's really angry with Yami, isn't she?" Joey whispered to Tristan in a low voice as Mai started to march across the road, quietly followed by the rest of the gang (or as quiet as they could ever be). Suddenly, as they reached the other end of the road, Yugi was pinned down to the pavement by a surprise hug from behind him.

"Darling!" a familiar voice chirped, and Mai rolled her eyes dramatically as the little blonde almost strangled Yugi with a hug.

"Um… hello, Rebecca", Yugi grinned. Yami didn't seem to notice, as he stared thoughtfully into the sky. With a snort, Mai turned to stare at the store's window, and deciding to break the ice, Joey leaned foolishly forward and said:

"What're you looking at, Mai?"

Mai was about to blush because of their closeness, when she thought, 'It's alright, it's Joey', and she nonchalantly answered:

"Nothing special. When're we going to that bus station anyway?"

"We might need to wait a while", Joey answered, jerking his head in Rebecca's and Yugi's direction, where Rebecca still clung to Yugi as he struggled to stand up properly, grinning apologetically at the other guys.

"… The plane isn't going to wait for us", Mai replied abruptly, and she turned to Rebecca and Yugi, staring sharply at the little girl. "Y'know, Rebecca, we've got some business to finish. We're hurrying to a plane."

"A plane? Where're you going? We've just met!" Rebecca whined, as she waved her hands impatiently in the air. Yugi immediately broke himself free of his hugging prison-guard, feeling quite uneasy with her close presence, even with Tea not around, glaring at them.

"Can I come along… please?"

She made puppy eyes at the hesitant Yugi, and with a groan, Mai decided to make a quick decision.

"Alright, I booked an extra ticket in case we dropped one of the others, but if you've got to come, you must. C'mon, we're already late…"

* * *

Tea gazed sadly at the glass ceiling, where the sun shone through as she walked towards the gate where her plane was going to go off. Plopping down on a red, hard chair next to a fierce-looking man, she stared at the locked doors which led to the airplane. When she had been very little, she had always been very excited to travel somewhere, but somehow, the vacation seemed more disturbing than actually an entertainment.

"Hullo, honey, are you alone?"

Tea jerked her head so abruptly she could have sworn it'd have cracked. She rubbed her aching neck as she stared, frowning, at a grinning youngster before her. He was a senior, just a few years older than herself; tall and rather nice-looking, but in her eyes, he was a disturbing, foolish object she'd have ignored rather than look at. He had amber-colored eyes, glittering mischievously in the morning light, and he had smooth, black hair which lied in waves over his suntanned, bare shoulders; he was wearing a blue top and a bright yellow vest to match his eyes, and a pair of rather tight-looking jeans. He had a golden wrist watch on his left wrist, and he had black leather shoes, which shone brilliantly in the lamp's light, as though they were newly bought.

"Do I know you?" Tea said with a slightly annoyed voice, as she turned to continue stare at the doors, still frowning.

"Aww, don't turn on me, sweetheart. Look at me… please?" He made puppy eyes. She could see it from her left eye's corner, but she didn't care. She continued to stare at the doors.

"I – am – not – your – sweetheart", she said with a deadly calm voice. He stared at her.

"Oh, are you already taken? That's a pity."

"I'm not taken at all", she found herself saying.

_Ah, curse me_, she thought angrily as his grin returned again, and he continued:

"That's great. Will you at least look at me, chocolate chip cookie?"

"Chocolate WHAT!" Tea stared at him, half in disbelief, half in increasing anger. His foolish  
grin just turned wider.

"Chocolate chip cookie", he repeated sheepishly. "That's a sweet treat, isn't it? That's why I'm calling you it, aren't I?"

Tea didn't reply. It was better not to say anything, just in case she exploded. If she caused a fight before she had even gotten onto the airplane…

"… So, what're you going to do in Taiwan? Meet me? Ah, c'mon, m'beauty, look at me, at the very least… I DO deserve as much as one second's look."

He continued to flirt with her. Tea felt for slapping him, but she kept herself seated, and decided to mask herself with a polite surface. She turned to look at him, half-kindly.

"Are you talking to me, mister?"

"Ohh… flirting with me, are you?" His grin turned so wide she thought his cheeks would crack. "… Oh, yes, I am, sweetie – gimme a kiss, honey."

Tea was about to raise her hand to slap him when the bored-looking woman, leaning towards a counter made a clicking noise with the door, and announced:

"Please go on board the airplane, misters and missies. We're now going to leave Tokyo."

Relieved to leave the disgusting boy, Tea moved forward, and was soon between a fat, posh-looking woman, wearing pale blue clothes and a tall man whom looked as though his head would go through the ceiling any moment.

"Your ticket, please", the woman smiled, but she gave Tea a sharp look, as though she did not approve of Tea's clothing – OR age, as Tea also guessed.

"Here, ma'am", Tea smiled kindly back, but with a blazing look in reply. Looking quite shocked, stammering a 'thanks', the woman took her ticket, pressed it through the machine and then returned it to her.

"Thank you", Tea said sweetly, bowing as she, filled with giggles, rushed down the corridor to the airplane.

"Welcome, miss", the women chorused and smiled falsely as Tea stepped over the threshold to the airplane. It was comfortable, of course. Large, soft seats, big windows, big tables, and big space between each seat. Tea felt as though she was in heaven. She wondered whom her neighbor would be, as she sat down, staring out of the window.

Leaning back, she grinned widely. But her grin faded away quite soon, as she was reminded how she was here, alone, in an airplane, while Belinda was probably clinging to Yami and the others had fun in school.

What was she doing? Tea smacked her head in her mind. She was supposed to think of something else now when she was going on vacation! Her whole purpose of not rejecting the invitation of the lottery was that she wanted to leave the lovebirds chirping where they were and everything. Learn to get new friends.

_I'll probably start with my neighbor_, she thought with a smile, putting her pink handbag in her lap, pulling out a book with a chocolate-brown cover. _I hope it's a kind girl with the same interests as me… that'd be quite fun and interesting. We could discuss a lot of things... _

"Hey, babe, didn't know you sat next to me! You did this on purpose, didn't you?"  
Tea stiffened, her smile quickly fading, as she turned up her head to see the boy from the waiting room. And she had hoped so badly he'd sit elsewhere.

_I hope time goes just as fast as people says_, she thought, _because I'm not going to survive the fifteen hours I'm going to sit next to this idiot otherwise!  
_

* * *

"She went to first class!" Mai hissed in Joey's ear, "What're we going to do?"

"Erm… aren't you the genius?" Joey whispered back as they entered the airplane.

"Welcome!" the uniform-dressed women chorused, as they bowed, smiles glued to their faces.

"… Don't be stupid!" Mai hissed again. "OK, she's looking our way. Let's hurry."

Mai was almost rushing through the first class as silently as possible as a cat, while Joey followed her clumsily, and only dodged in time so she wouldn't knock people over. Tristan followed, and Serenity threw an anxious glance at Tea, whom was looking out of the window, before grabbing the arm closest to her as people started to push from behind. Tristan looked quite satisfied as he took Serenity's hand.

"You don't need to be afraid", he whispered, "I won't let you get lost."

Duke looked jealously at them, as Serenity looked more relieved, but he couldn't reach them through the crowd, and he didn't dare to, either; Mai would kill him if they were revealed before Tea.

Yami walked as swiftly between the gaps between the persons standing in his way as possible, not wanting to be seen at all. People would surely recognize him, and that was the last thing he wanted to do; be revealed in front of Tea and be scolded and yelled at once again. Yugi followed him quietly, following Yami's spiky hair, dodging swiftly away from people's elbows and backs so he could get through the flood of people. Last, but not least, was Rebecca, whom was clinging to Yugi's arm, biting her lower lip anxiously, afraid to get lost; she didn't know this airplane well, and didn't dare ask in case Tea overheard her talk – how was she going to explain being on the same airplane?

Ryou was in the front, following Mai and Joey as quickly as possible.

"Where're our seats, Mai?" Joey breathed in her ear. Mai almost blushed; his breath was hot… and he was so close. He was almost clinging to her from behind as people continued to push through the crowd.

"The middle rows… nr 18 and nr 19..."

"And mine is at 18a… hey, where's yours?"

"Um… 18c, I think. But who's sitting in 18b?"

"How should I know?"

"Ouch!"

"What?"

"Someone stepped on my foot. C'mon, let's move into this thing…" She moved swiftly to the middle seat, Joey sitting two seats away. The gang, finding this as a signal to eye their tickets, Ryou sat down next to Mai, and Duke next to Ryou; in the seat in front of theirs, sat Yami on the middle seat, while Yugi sat on his right, and Rebecca to Yugi's right; on Yami's left, sat Tristan, and to Tristan's left sat Serenity.

"Err… why is there a seat between us?" Joey asked, looking dumbfounded at Mai.

"How should I know? I wasn't the one placing us, y'know", Mai answered. She then pulled out a book out of her purple handbag.

"What's that?" Joey asked interestedly, as he looked over his shoulder to see.

"A book!" Mai said swiftly as she stuffed it bag where it belonged.

"What's so secret with it?" Joey protested.

"Nothing", Mai replied simply, and the conversation ended as they announced that they were going to start the journey now. She blushed in her mind, not wanting Joey to know that the book's name was _Where Rainbows End_, a book which was about two childhood friends whom fell in love with each other. Friends which fell in love… sometimes she dreamed during the nights that the persons were Joey and her, but then she'd feel awkward and guilty for dreaming such a dream afterwards. Joey looked at her as he looked upon his sister; a girl he cared about, a close friend, somebody who's important – not a love, which she, for the fifth time the same week, reminded herself of.

Plus, being about three years older than him, she was more of an older, naughty sister than a girl his age. She had graduated already, while he was still a freshman…

"Ladies and gentlemen, please tie your safety belts. We're taking off into the air."

Bored, Tea tossed a wrinkled paper into the bin in front of her, where you put trash and which the flight's ladies emptied when they were asleep. The boy had babbled on about his 'deeds' for about an hour, and she was already bored.

"Would you mind shutting your mouth for a while when I'm reading my book?" she said as kindly and politely as she could.

"If you say 'Sweet Samuel'", he said innocently, blinking uncountable times. She groaned.

"Alright, 'Sweet Samuel'", she moaned, "Would you PLEASE shut up now?"

Samuel looked quite satisfied as he put a pair of headphones over his ears, and started to watch a movie on the TV screen in front of him. Relieved to finally hear silence (or at least as silent as it could be on an airplane) she pulled out her book again and began to read.

* * *

"When're we getting there?" Yami asked for the thousandth time the same hour. With a sigh, his 'twin brother' eyed his wrist watch.

"In twelve hours, Yami. Why are you so impatient?" Yugi replied, as he turned to the TV screen again. "Relax, you can play cards against a computer on this TV thing. Try it out, I've already won five times in a row on the hardest level..."

Heaving a sigh, Yami loosened the controller from his chair and clicked the buttons, making the black TV screen turn bright chocolate-brown, and soon was recognizable as an arena.

"Hey, we could play against each other! It says 'Play against another user' here. Just type your name first."

"Sure", Yami replied, shrugging. He typed in 'Yami' as Yugi typed in 'Yugi', and the two of them challenged each other. Serenity was giggling nearby as she was playing a game against Tristan, whom was laughing, too. Duke was watching them sourly from behind, as his TV screen showed scenes of Tokyo, a news-reporter's voice babbling in his headphones.

"This is boring", Joey yawned.

"Well, yes", Mai said, rolling her eyes. "Sitting still in fifteen hours is not supposed to be FUN, Joey."

"By the way, what about the place we're going to? Ken Ding?"

"Yeah… we're taking in on a hotel. The same hotel as Tea's, of course, and it was surely not cheap", Mai muttered.

"What hotel is it?" Joey said, looking gleeful at the thought of a luxurious hotel.

"It's called Caesar Park… it's really beautiful there and everything. Since we're nine persons, we can't just share one room… so we're divided into pairs." She pulled out a notebook from her purple handbag. "Let's see… so it's Tristan and Serenity –"

"WHAT! TRISTAN WITH SERENITY!"

"Joey, CALM down!" Mai snarled at him. "Tea is going to hear us otherwise."

"But… but…"

"Don't you even trust your friends?"

Joey seemed to calm down at this, at least a bit.

"But Tristan's still –"

"Ah, if he as much as touches Serenity, I'm going to punch him in the face. Serenity is as much as my little sister as yours", Mai assured him, and Joey seemed to be calm at this. But Duke pouted the more as he heard it. "And then we've got Duke and Ryou… and Yami and Yugi were supposed to share a room, but since Rebecca is here, I guess she's gotta join them… WHAT!" She clasped a hand to her mouth.

"What?" Joey said alarmed, looking at the notebook. "Am I going to share room with… you!"

"Who planned this? I thought I was going to share room with somebody else!" Mai said furiously.

"Didn't you write this list down?" Joey said, raising an eyebrow. "You could change it!"

"Yes, I did, but I can't now. The names are already listed in the hotel's room list, and… and I didn't plan this, somebody has changed it!... Serenity…"

Mai's voice turned into a low growl as an eyebrow twitched.

"Serenity?" Joey raised an eyebrow. "My little sister? Impossible!"

"She was the only one whom knew of the list", Mai said darkly. "And I left to get the phone… she changed it. I thought it was strange that she was going to share room with Tristan too – because I remembered that we had to share room, since we were both girls, and you and Tristan had to share one. I didn't know she had changed it!"

She waved her hands impatiently.

"But that can't be helped now. The hotel receptionists already know and we can't change. I asked her to phone them and tell them who'd have which room, and now…" She shook her head. But insides, she was a deeper shade red – and it was not because of fury, but of embarrassment. Joey leaned back in his seat again.

"Don't you at least have an mp3-player?" he yawned. "I'd like a bit of music. The music they've come up with on this TV is lousy."

"You don't want to hear what I've got on my mp3", Mai said, a bit embarrassedly; she didn't want him to know that she had recorded most of their meetings with the others, so she could hear her friends whenever she liked, and it was too late to remove them now.

"C'mon… please?" Joey made puppy eyes, and Mai sighed. Well, it couldn't be such a pain, after all. He was her friend, for heaven's sake! She reached for her purple and white mp3 in her handbag and handed it to him.

"And be careful with it! It cost me a fortune!" Mai warned him, as she pulled out the controller to watch TV.

* * *

Hours 'flew' past… as much as they could fly anyway, as the airplane soared through the air. The clouds hovered below them like a fluffy Atlantis, blue patches of sky lying like frozen lakes among the white 'cloud-snow', mountains competing in being the highest. As Samuel continued to babble on about his boring life, Tea made a grimace and stared out of the window. The sun was setting – the clouds were deep purple, and the sky dark orange; the ground below them was pitch black, and everything was like from a fairy tale – though she didn't feel like the princess. Then the darkness came upon them, and the lights flicked out. Samuel clicked a button on his TV-controller, switching on the little lamp above him, and she copied his move, as another lamp lit up their seats.

"And then I was all, 'Hey, have you got any gold' and he totally freaked out, and –"

"Samuel", she interrupted over-politely, "Would you please be quiet?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Wanna borrow my mp3-player, babe?"

"Mm, alright."

He handed it to her, and she switched it on. Any kind of music would do now, even the worst rock-music…

**_Oceans apart, day after day… _**

And I slowly go insane…

Tea's eyes were filled with bubbly tears.

"Samuel?" she said in a thick voice. "Would you please excuse me? I've got to go to the ladies' room."

"What? Oh, sure", Samuel said, looking up from his book, and putting his feet on his seat so that she could walk past him. The toilets were very small in the airplane. In the little 'hall' between the first class and the economy class, you could push open the 'walls' into small cupboards with a sink, paper and a toilet. The ladies' room had a pink figure wearing a skirt on it, and she slowly pushed it open, as somebody nudged her back.

"Sorry", a familiar voice mumbled. Stiffening, she whirled around, but only saw a black shoe disappearing into the boys' toilet. With a sigh, she walked in, and leaned towards the wall right in front of the toilet.

**_… I will be right here waiting for you…  
_**

* * *

Snore! Another loud snore followed.

Mai awoke.

_Who's snoring so loudly? _she thought, as she looked irritably around, when she noticed a weight on her knee. A blond head…

First, she blushed, startled to have a boy sleeping in HER lap. Then she calmed down. It was just Joey. Smiling, she looked around. Nobody looked at her. The lights had flicked out, so it was just good enough. She stroked his hair and his face slightly, like it had been a cat in her lap and not a seventeen years old boy. She then closed her eyes again.

* * *

Yami leaned towards the sink as the toilet made a small noise. He had only found an excuse to think in peace. He could feel Yugi looking into his thoughts whenever he tried to think of something; knowing that Yugi was only trying to stop him from thinking of Belinda, he sighed.

He had not wanted to go to the Christmas ball with her at all. He just knew that he'd be punished for telling her no, plus that you weren't allowed to speak under a lesson. SHE was the only exception because she was the headmaster's daughter, and that was all.

The last thing he had wanted to do was to upset Tea, but he hadn't know how to speak to her during lunch. Girl language was just so hard to understand – couldn't she just tell out loud about her feelings? Why must girls be so complicated?

Irritated, he pulled the little thing on the toilet's side again, and the noise was to be heard again.

And now Mai was all mad at him. Alright, so he knew that Mai and Tea were really close and such, but did she need to call him 'jerk' or 'dork' or 'idiot' every single hour just to show that she was angry about him making Tea upset and going to Taiwan?

Girls were just so… hard to understand.

With a final sigh, he walked out of the toilet and went back to his seat.

_"Where've you been?" _Yugi asked mentally, eyeing him.

_"To the toilet", _Yami sighed, _"But, aibou… must you be so suspicious? Belinda isn't hiding in the toilet on the airplane." _

"That's not why I'm asking. I saw Tea walking into the girls' toilet, she was just whirling around in time to see you walking in –"

"SHE was the girl I accidentally nudged?"

"Yes."

"… Rebecca is sleeping on your shoulder."

Flushing, Yugi looked at Rebecca, whom was sleeping on his shoulder, her head resting on his head, her long, golden hair tickling his neck.

_"Don't try to change the subject. And why are you calling me 'aibou' anyway?" _he mumbled, and Yami chuckled slightly.

* * *

Dawn had broken. With a sigh, Tea pulled off the mp3-player and put it in Samuel's lap. He was snoring loudly. She had not slept once during the night; she was not even sleepy now, when they only had four hours left. 'Only' and 'only', time had passed very slowly. She had already went to the toilet twice this hour just to do something, and she had been watching the same movies five times now. She had listened to music, played games… well, it had been very boring, still.

She arose, just as the lamps flicked on. Slowly, she sat back in her seat and fastened her belt as the little symbol with the belt flicked on, too. Heaving another sigh, Tea poked Samuel.

"Um… Samuel. Put your belt on."

Samuel mumbled something she couldn't hear, before he rubbed his eyes and stared wide-eyed at her.

"Yea, what's up, babe?"

"The belt", she said shortly, pointing at the ceiling, where a black block was, with two signs on it, 'No smoking' and 'Put your belt on'.

"Thanks, sweetie", Samuel grinned, as he fastened his belt. Trying not to roll her eyes, Tea pulled out her book, _The Da Vinci Code_, out of her handbag, and started to read again.

"That book's great, isn't it? If you can read it instead of listen to me", Samuel said, making a jealous grimace as the brown book, as he folded his arms.

"Well, yes", she said, rather amused, "I've never read a better book."

"Good. Then I'll buy one in Taiwan", Samuel beamed at her, and Tea stuck out her tongue at the book in disgust.

"Mm… that was one nice dream…" Joey yawned and rubbed his eyes, as he stretched out his arms, and then blinked.

"Huh? Is this my seat?" He then sat up abruptly, and stared. He had been sleeping in Mai's lap for hours! Scratching the back of his head half guiltily, half embarrassed, he poked the sleeping Mai.

"Err… Mai? Mai?"

Mai blinked, and rubbed her eyes too, as she mumbled:

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Um, Mai, why did I sleep in your lap?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Because I was too kind to push you away?" Mai said, raising an eyebrow, too.  
"And besides, you were like a little cat", she giggled.

"I'm not a cat!" he protested, but Mai continued to giggle.

"My little cat", she teased, "My little kitten Joey!"

Joey sighed, and then grinned at her.

"OK, OK, but only yours, then."

Mai went a bit pink, but decided to leave it, and Joey just half-shrieked "THE FOOD CART!" waking up everybody in the gang anyway, and Mai strangling him to tell him to be quiet.


	5. The Arrival

**Chapter 4: The Arrival**

"Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for the landing, please."

Tea gritted her teeth. She hated the bumping sound and the shaking feeling that followed  
when the wheels of the airplane touched the ground.

"Are you nervous? You don't need to be, honey, I've been in an airplane a billion times and nothing's ever happened to me", Samuel grinned.

"I'm not nervous", Tea snapped. "And stop calling me honey!"

She was already irritated.

"Oh, yeah, I don't even know your name", Samuel laughed.

"Tea", Tea said shortly. "Just Tea."

"Tea… beautiful name. Just as beautiful as you", Samuel said, leaning close, breathing on her cheek. Tea felt for pushing him away.

"Caesar Park guests this way, please!" a woman shouted loudly, as she waved a wooden sign saying 'Caesar Park' at the airport. Tea smiled warmly as she approached them.

"I didn't know you were taking in on Caesar Park, too!" Samuel beamed. "Now we can spend lots of time together, can't we?"

Tea had to stop herself from groaning loudly.

"Maybe", she said at last, forcing a smile. "… I… might be busy."

"Caesar Park guests here, please! No more Caesar Park guests? Then let's go!"  
The woman grinned as she marched towards the airport's exit.

"All your baggage will of course be delivered to the hotel and to your room", she shouted as she walked out of the automatic glass doors into the bright sunlight. There was a blue mini-bus there. Tea stepped on board, followed by a line of mumbling and laughing people.

* * *

"Why can't we go, too?" Joey said jealously as he folded his arms, glaring at the bus, which drove away. 

"Because then it's a bigger risk that Tea notices us", Mai replied, folding her arms, too, as she looked around impatiently. "Now, where's that taxi? I KNEW men were unable to trust… oh, here it is."

Joey rolled his eyes meaningfully at Tristan, and Tristan shrugged. Yami, though, looked still depressed. Rebecca was chatting gleefully as she giggled and clung to Yugi, whom was looking desperately at Duke and Bakura. They only shook their heads and grinned back at him. At last, Yugi gave up.

"The weather is just as hot in Taiwan as in Japan", Serenity remarked, wiping some sweat from her forehead. Joey opened his mouth to reply, but was cut across by Tristan:

"Yeah, but you don't like cold, do you?"

"No, I don't", Serenity smiled at him.

"You can borrow my handkerchief, if you want", Tristan began, but was interrupted by Duke:

"Here, take my handkerchief." He handed her a white handkerchief. Smiling, and with a  
'Thanks, Duke-kun', Serenity wiped her forehead gently with the handkerchief, as Tristan joined in with Joey's sulkiness. Duke, however, beamed at them.

"Oh, THERE it is", Mai said. The others turned around to see what she meant. It was a bit smaller than a bus – but larger than a taxi. It had three rows of seats. Enthusiastically, the others jumped into the taxi; Mai in the front row with the taxi driver, and Joey beside her; in the middle row sat Duke, Serenity and Tristan, while Ryou and Rebecca had to share a seat together with Yugi and Yami.

"Oh, it's beautiful here", Rebecca said, after ten minutes of silence, when they reached the town. Coconut palms were on both sides of the road, and small, low houses were there, too; and then they could see the bright-blue sea, and the beach where small figures moved around, and the high houses and the shops.

"I wonder if they've got a card shop here", Ryou grinned at Yugi and Yami.

"Yeah, maybe there're great cards to buy", Yugi grinned back. "We must go and see it!"  
Sour that Ryou had interrupted her 'conversation' with Yugi, she pouted the rest of the journey to the hotel where the boys discussed buying cards enthusiastically, but she wasn't the only one not talking. Yami was silent too, staring at the beach outside.

* * *

Tea put her hand on the window. The glass felt cold and smooth to her fingers, as she slowly stroked it, gazing thoughtfully out at the palms that flashed past, and the ever-moving sea. The white foam licked at the children's feet as they played tag with the waves. She longed to be out there; swimming and sunbathing and… 

"And then we were all like, 'What, but'…"

She heaved a deep sigh. Samuel had chosen to sit beside her, and just like on the airplane, he was babbling on and on about his deeds and his boring life. She only hoped he wouldn't come to her hotel room – she'd be relieved to get new friends. Right now, she could only hope he'd start to choke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's our hotel", the woman suddenly said in the front. The attention and interest was immediately caught, and she grinned widely as they all leaned towards the windows to gaze at it. It was huge, it was beautiful – it was Caesar's Park.

"It looks nice, don't you think?" Samuel asked her, grinning.

"Yeah", Tea agreed, and stared as the bus stopped. She took off her belt and immediately ran down the bus.

"Isn't it a beauty?" the woman chirped in her ear.

"… Yes", Tea repeated, still staring at the doors. They were made of glass and had golden handles. They walked into the hall, whose floor was a crimson carpet; there were couches on the left side, and a piano right in front of them, a small cafeteria with large windows on the wall – and the receptionist on the right.

"Cool", Samuel said, whistling. Tea ignored him and walked towards the receptionist. A few children laughed and screamed as they chased each other in the gigantic hall.

"你好", the young woman smiled behind the reception desk. She was wearing a white blouse under a black vest, a black bowtie and a black skirt; she reminded Tea somewhat of a waitress."

"Err… hello", Tea greeted back doubtfully in English. The woman blinked at her in astonishment, and then immediately put on her smile again.

"Hello", she said with a rather lousy English. Tea had to stifle a giggle, and coughed instead.  
"Guest?" She made a gesture at the hotel rooms. Tea nodded. "Wright here, pleez."

She pushed a paper towards Tea, and she wrote her name neatly.

"Theenks", she beamed, took the paper, and put it back into its place. "Key. To hotel room. Number on key." She made another gesture at a golden key she handed to Tea.

"Thank you", Tea said politely, took the key, and eyed the number. '113'? Didn't sound like a lucky number. Chuckling, Tea walked down the hall. And just there it was! Just where there was a door out to the hotel's big yard. She inserted the key in the keyhole, and with a small 'click', the door was pushed open. She took a deep breath.

So, Tea had been to this hotel and that, but she had never seen a bedroom like this before all the same. The bed was big and soft, neatly made; there was a cute bedside table with a little lamp, a big wooden closet, and a clean, sparkling white bathroom. And best of all – the windows were DOORS. You could push them apart, and walk right out to the beach and everything, and you could see the children play in the playground. And there was an armchair and a small table with a plate of fruits, and a desk and a wooden chair… everything you needed.

_Am I going to live here, or is it just for decoration? _she thought, breathless with wonder.

"Yo, Tea, how was your room? Nice?"

Samuel looked inside, and Tea swore quietly for herself. Now Samuel knew what room she had!

"Yes, kind of", Tea said irritably. "Would you mind going away? Because, you know, this is a girl's room."

"Oh… yeah, right. See ya later then. At the beach?" he suggested.

"No, I want to be alone", Tea said shortly. "I MIGHT see you during my vacation. Goodbye!"  
She slammed her door in his face, and sighed in relief. Now one problem was gone. The other problem was… have fun without your friends.

* * *

"Wow… so, we actually LIVE here?" Joey goggled at the room. Mai raised an eyebrow. 

"No, we're just going into a museum", she said sarcastically. "Go in now, dog boy."

"Dog?" Joey looked with pretended shock at her. "I'm not your kitten anymore?"

"Alright then, cat boy. In with ya!"

Mai pushed Joey playfully into the room as she shut the door closed, and sighed. "Alright…" Her eyes scanned the room. Two large beds. Perfect. She didn't need to share it with him anyway. Then she heard somebody knock on the glass door and saw Tristan grin at them. She swore under her breath as she pushed the glass doors apart and he stumbled in, followed by the others.

"This hotel is wonderful", Ryou commented as he stepped in, smiling.

"If it hadn't been, I'd have killed you guys. It cost me a fortune and I got fired after I paid it", Mai commented.

"Whoops, sorry to hear that", Tristan said, but then started gobbling up the litchis on the white plate.

"Hey! They're mine!" Joey burst out, raged. Mai raised an eyebrow.

"I thought they were ours?"

"Alright, ours then", Joey said sulkily, and the others burst into hearty laughter.

"Where's Yami, by the way?" Duke wondered, still feeling a bit sour that Serenity and Tristan were sharing a room.

"Oh… he's still in our bedroom", Yugi began, but was interrupted by a chirping Rebecca:

"Why can't we go and get ourselves something to eat and drink? I'm all tired after the journey here."

"We can't", Mai commented, raising an eyebrow. "Tea might catch us. We must be careful, if she knows we're here, she's never going to forgive us. You've all got to have your curtains drawn, so you're out of view from the outside. We've got to call the receptionists to bring us food."

"Can't we even go to the morning buffet?" Joey asked, disappointed.

"Of course we can. But firstly after Tea has left. I've told a receptionist that if she phones us about when Tea Gardner leaves and enters the meals. We come right after. If she spots us… we're dead."

The others nodded in agreement.

"What're we waiting for then? Let's go!" Mai exclaimed, and with a loud 'Hooray!' the others rushed down the corridor for the restaurant.

* * *

Yami leaned against the wall and stared blankly at the beds in front of him. He felt so horrible. He could hear her 'I'm not hungry' over and over again in his head, and see the sparkling droplet that trickled down her cheek. 

To be honest, he hadn't understood. He still didn't understand; why was she acting like that? All he knew was that he had hurt his best friend and she was so mad at him that she didn't even want to celebrate Christmas with her friends anymore. He had got to fix this – or else, not only would their Christmas celebrations be ruined, their friendship would be, too. And…

He scratched his head. Why were girls so difficult to understand?

Why was she mad with him? He knew she disliked his fangirls, but… but why?

It couldn't be…

His eyes widened at the thought, but then shook his head. Impossible. His fantasy fancied playing around with his brain.

He remembered last time when Belinda had bothered them… she had been mad at him that time, too, but this time, it was even worse. She had been crying and everything. He had desperately tried to shake Belinda off to speak to her in private.

_"It's nothing", she sniffed, and dried a few tears. "I… only got something in the eye." _

"Don't lie, Tea", he said, and he felt something sting in his heart. Almost like somebody had stuck a needle there. "I know you're crying."

"Alright, fine!" she had yelled, and he had flinched of her sudden yell. "I'm mad at you because I can't stand Belinda going around flirting with you like that! If you end up being a couple, then it won't be like I care, if your heart is broken and she's stepping on it and everything! You're a fool, Yami, you know you are! And Belinda thinks **I **like you out of some stupid reason I don't know, so she goes around bothering me to BOAST about how wonderfully romantic you are, and it drives me insane! I don't care if you have a thousand fangirls like Belinda or not and you get all enchanted by them, but don't you even THINK about the possibility that **I **would be one of them!"

Yami had felt a bit taken aback by what she had said, but sudden didn't feel the urge to protest when he saw the tears that ran down her cheeks. He had softened, and he said, a bit hurt:

"Do you really think I've told her something like that?"

Tea had at first widened her eyes, and then she had looked away, and sniffed:

"Who else would have?"

He just shook her head, and put a hand on her cheek to wipe away some tears.

"She would've, you know that. She's just jealous because… because you're my friend. I care about you, and you care about me, and you know she'd never be my friend."

Tea had looked up again, into his violet orbs, seeking for some sign of a lie – but had only found honest friendship and a bit of some hurt pride.

"You're so stupid, Yami! And you're still my friend", she had sobbed, and had started to cry on his chest.

"Don't cry", he had told her softly, as he had put his hand on her cheek. "Don't."

He shook his head again. Everything had ended so well then. But this time, it was worse. She just didn't want to listen… he had already phoned her thrice after school the same day, and her mother had just said that she was away dancing. But being outside her house, he very well knew she hadn't left the house since after school. But she just didn't want to talk to him. He heaved a sigh. And now they were here, trying to keep an eye on her. Their Christmas was ruined anyway.

* * *

Tea bit her lip as she scanned the area swiftly for any sign of Samuel. Finding none, she felt satisfying relieved, and sat down on the little swing. 

Alright, it wasn't like she didn't know the playground was for kids. But sometimes, you just needed to relax, and she knew no better way to relax than to sit on a swing – watch the world flash past you and the wind ruffle your hair, and just forget everything and be a child.

Why was she thinking about him again?

She shook her head impatiently as she moved her legs rhythmically as the swing started to move. A flashback unwillingly crept onto her mind…

_"Tea Gardner, you disgust me." _

_Belinda had talked to her as if though she had been some kind of worm, drained in dirt and mud. Yami had just let his eyes slowly creep from Belinda to Tea. The two girls stared daggers at each other, Tea's eyes flashing furiously while Belinda's were filled with more disgust than she could possibly stand._

_"You disgust me too", Tea said under her breath, but she flashed a triumphant smile at her._

_"Well, what does it matter to me?"_

_"The fact that I'm going to kick you out of this school is what matters", Belinda had said, flashing an identical copy of her smile back. "My father's the principal… and the owner of this school."_

_Tea had flinched, and Belinda's eyes had hidden some amusement in them. Cursing herself for revealing herself, Tea merely smiled:_

_"Oh, really. There're other schools, aren't there?"_

_"Oh, not with the King of Games in it, does it?"_

_"No, but friends can meet outside school too, in case you didn't know." Belinda's turn to flinch. Tea had made a victory dance in her mind. Strike! She knew perfectly well that Yami had never asked Belinda to meet him after school. In fact, they had just met randomly in town (she, herself, believed that Belinda stalked him) and Belinda had clung onto him the rest of the day._

_"You've been… asked OUT by HIM!" Belinda's eyes had looked, hurt and accusingly, from Yami to Tea._

_"Well… yes", Tea said innocently, "But friends can meet outside the school."_

_"Don't be foolish, Gardner!" Belinda had shrieked, her eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets. "Everybody knows you like him – except himself, of course!"_

_"Oh, REALLY, I didn't know you had the ability to read minds", Tea said coolly, making Belinda flush in rage. "C'mon, Yami, we're already late for class."  
Yami had just looked in amazement at Tea, nodded, and followed her as Belinda had glared after them… and picked up her mobile phone. Smirking, she clicked on a few buttons and then whispered:_

_"Hello? This is Belinda… yeah, I've got a new job for you. You get one hundred thousand yen… her name is Tea Gardner. Dark brown, short hair, ocean-blue eyes, tall, dressed rather fashionably…"_

_

* * *

"Ouch!" Tea had fallen to the ground, her face filled with bruises. A foot stepped onto her leg brutally and almost crushed it. Tea gasped for air as a terrible pain struck her. A few droplets, easily recognized as tears, trickled down her cheeks._

_"Curse you!" she had yelled, her voice thick with tears and pain, "Curse you!"_

_"What did you say?" One of the muscular men took her chin and dragged her back on feet, staring threateningly at her. "Did you curse me?"  
"Yes, I did!" she answered fiercely, and shrieked in pain as she was once again hit to the ground. Barely able to stand up, he started to stomp on her body, followed by the other five ones…_

_"What're you doing?" A familiar voice reached her ears, and another few tears trickled down her dirty, injured cheeks. "Yami…", she whispered, as the tri-colored youngster appeared before them._

_"Does it any matter to you?" the man whom had stepped on her leg sneered at him. "We only do what we're told to do."_

_"And who told you it?" Yami said, staring fiercely at him._

_"Oh, cheeky, are you? he had hissed in reply. "Well, we can beat you up as well."_

_He had aimed with his fist, but Yami had caught it halfway successfully and thrown him to the ground._

_"Don't you even dare…", a woman growled as she hissed like a snake._

_"No, Yami! Please! You'll get hurt!" Tea's eyes filled with more tears as Yami started to battle with them. At last, their leader had said:_

_"Hah! One good challenge. See you until next time. Now it's time to inform mistress Belinda of the events." He turned to his men, and cackling wickedly, they walked away from the battlefield. Yami groaned as he fell to the ground, clutching his arm._

_"Yami! Are you alright?" Tea exclaimed, crawling over to him._

_"Yeah, nothing wrong", Yami said with a bursting voice, filled with pain. Tea leaned closer._

_"Let me have a look – here –" She slowly pulled away his hand, and her eyes filled with tears as she saw it. Blood. The woman had dug her nails into his skin, and apparently, the nails were filled with slight poison – the part where he was injured had suddenly turned deep purple._

_"Oh, Yami", she sighed._

_"How do you feel?" Yami asked, ignoring to answer her sighs. "Not injured?"_

_"No, not much", Tea replied – but immediately realized it was a lie. The mark after the man stepping on her leg was too clear; it was purple, too. She had bruises all over her face, and her clothes were dusty and dirty._

_"Your leg", Yami frowned._

_"That's nothing – but your ARM – Yami, I'm so sorry…"_

_"What're you sorry for?" Yami flashed a weak smile at her. "I battled on my own, I did it on free will. You didn't drag me into it or something."_

_Tea smiled through the tears that trickled down her cheeks._

_"Don't cry, Tea", he added, as he brushed away some tears from her left cheek._

_"No, I won't", Tea said thickly, as she brushed away some other tears._

_"C'mon, let's get back home."_

_Yami, still clutching his arm, arose, and waited for Tea to do the same – Tea tried desperately to arose, but her purple leg was trembling terrifyingly._

_"Are you alright?" Yami repeated worriedly, frowning at her leg._

_"Yeah, I think", Tea smiled, as she tried to arose – but failed again. Yami bent down into a  
strange position, like a frog. Tea giggled._

_"What're you laughing at?" Yami said, pretending to wrinkle his forehead._

_"Nothing", Tea chuckled, and Yami joined in. "You just sit… strangely."_

_"C'mon, get onto my back", Yami urged on her._

_"What?" Tea blinked._

_"Your leg's not alright. You can't walk with that, and it's way too far away from your house."_

_"But… your arm –"_

_"It'll be alright. It's not as bad as your leg. C'mon, what're you waiting for?"_

_Yet hesitantly, Tea stumbled onto his back._

_"Oof! You're heavy", he chuckled as she leaned towards his neck. She breathed on his neck._

_"I'm not!" she protested, but he only continued to chuckle. "But I'm not too heavy, am I? I CAN walk on my own – "_

_"Nope!" he said determinedly, "If you continue to protest, your horse's gonna gallop. You will want to control this horse, I tell you."_

_"You? A HORSE? The Horse of the Games?" Tea burst into a fit of laughter, and Yami joined in as he started to walk._

_"Don't even dare to laugh at me, the Horse of the Games!" he said with a faked growl. "Or else…!"_

_He made small jumping move which made Tea hop on his back uncomfortably._

_"Oof!" she exclaimed, but he only started to zigzag in a wild gallop. "Stop it!" she laughed.  
"Stooop iiiit!"_

_"Alright, then", Yami grinned as he slowed down to a walk._

_"There's my house", Tea said, pointing at a villa in the horizon. "Are you sure…?"_

_"Yeah, it's not that far. Plus, I will need some training…"_

_After some more teasing and another wild gallop, they were finally there, by the garden fence. Yami bent down again and allowed her to fall onto the grass. He offered a hand and helped her walk all the way to the door._

_"Thanks", she beamed at him. Yami smiled back._

_"What're friends for?" he imitated her, and she burst into laughter. Then she smiled, too._

_"Thanks for carrying me home… and rescuing me from the bulls."_

_"Yeah, but who sent them?" Yami frowned._

_"… Didn't you hear? Mistress Belinda…"_

A cold droplet trickled down Tea's cheek. What was she doing? Thinking about him again? Laughing weakly to herself, she wiped it away and started to swing her legs rhythmically again.


End file.
